Comfort the friends and families of the victims of the December 14 shootings in Newtown, Conn. For those families, the toys that should have been placed under the Christmas tree will be replaced by ribbons on the trees. Is there a Christmas miracle for the heartache that those families are feeling?

Santa, please find a way to reassure the rest of us who will never look at sending our children or grandchildren off to school the same way again. Now as our children or teachers leave for school, we will be wondering if we will ever see them again. How can we tell them they are safe and protected from harm?

Help us find a way to treat mental illness before more acts of violence occur. We know that very few people with mental illnesses commit acts of violence. When they do, it is usually against themselves and not against others. Private health care insurance isn't up to the task of treating mental illness. Their solution is to allow doctors to prescribe a small handful of generic medications often at inflated co-payment prices. Counseling and even screening for mental health disorders is rarely even an option in private, for-profit health insurance. Since many people with mental illness are unable to hold jobs, they often lack the money and resources to obtain insurance or pay for those medications. As a result, their illness is often untreated or at best, undertreated.

Often, Santa, we are short-sighted and worry more about the size of government or the size of our tax bill and inadvertently put our children and our economy at risk. Santa, you understand that when we treat mental health disease, we not only avoid tragedies like the one in Newtown Conn., but we put happier, more productive, tax-paying citizens into our workforce. I would gladly pay more in taxes if that meant better mental health care and the saving of even one life from the carnage we've seen recently. By treating mental illness, we gain more wage earners paying taxes and have fewer people living off government subsidies.

Here in New Hampshire, we have reduced taxes on cigarettes and then cut services to individuals and families dealing with mental health disorders. Santa, don't let us be the next state that suffers the terrible tragedy experienced in Connecticut, Colorado Washington and Arizona. Give our political leaders and our medical societies — especially our primary care societies — the courage to speak out and guide our citizens to make choices that will make us all safer and healthier.

With all the literature about you, Santa, there is nothing to indicate your stance on gun control. Clearly you care for all of us, especially our children. Isn't it time we made some changes to gun accessibility? As important as the second amendment is to some of us, our right to life is more important to all of us. Perhaps the “bad guys” will find a way to get dangerous weapons despite our best efforts, but we don't have to make it easy for them. Gun sales have actually increased since the Newtown tragedy. Santa, why can't the gun associations be as visible in protecting our society from irresponsible gun possessors as they are in promoting gun ownership?

Finally, Santa, I would like to point out that the items on my list will not take up any room in your sleigh. In fact, it would lighten your load if people like me would make a donation to the Salvation Army or the “Toys for Tots” program to honor those elementary school children who died in Newton.